Bully (Rockstar Games)
Bully, originally released in the PAL region as ''Canis Canem Editis an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on June 7, 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube.A remastered version of the game, subtitled ''Scholarship Edition, was developed by Mad Doc Software and released on March 4, 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. An updated version of the Scholarship Edition, titled Anniversary Edition, was developed by War Drum Studios and was released for Android and iOS on June 7, 2015. On June 7, 2011 the original version Bully ''was re-released on the PlayStation Netwok Store under the PS2 Classics category for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox Live Marketplace under the Xbox Originals category for The Xbox 360. Set within the fictional town of Bullworth, the story follows a student and his efforts to rise through the ranks of the school system. The open world design lets players freely roam Bullworth, which includes a number of towns. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot, skateboard, scooter, bicycle or by go-kart. Players control James "Jimmy" Hopkins, a student who is involuntarily enrolled at Bullworth Academy. He discovers that the school is filled with bullies, and becomes determined to bring peace, ultimately becoming more respected among town groups. Jimmy is also expected to attend class, which is a main gameplay aspect. In ''Anniversary Edition, a two-player competitive multiplayer mode lets two players compete for the highest score in different classes. Despite initial controversy for its expected violence, and homosexual content, Bully received highly positive reviews upon release, with praise directed at the game's missions, narrative and characters. The original version of Bully sold over 1.5 million copies, and received multiple year-end accolades. Gameplay Bully is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The game's single-player mode lets players control a high school student—teenage rebel James "Jimmy" Hopkins. Throughout the story, Jimmy rises through the ranks of the school groups, which include the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, and Jock archetypes. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of missions, players can freely roam the game's open world, and have the ability to complete optional side missions. The world of Bully, named Bullworth, is separated between five areas: Bullworth Academy, Old Bullworth Vale, Bullworth Town, New Coventry, and the Blue Skies Industrial Area. At the beginning of the game, players can only explore Bullworth Academy, with all other areas unlocking as the story progresses. Players use melee attacks and weapons to fight enemies. The weapons available include slingshots, bags of marbles, stink bombs, spud cannons and may run, jump, swim or use vehicles to navigate the game's world. The vehicles available in the game includes a skateboard, Motor scooters, bicycles and go-karts. Bus stops are located in various locations around the world, allowing players to quickly travel back to Bullworth Academy. Should players take damage, their health meter can be fully regenerated using multiple techniques, such as drinking sodas. If players break rules while playing, the game's authority figures may respond as indicated by a "trouble" meter in the (HUD). On the meter, the displayed levels indicate the current level of severity (for example, at the maximum sixth level, efforts by all authority figures to incapacitate players become very aggressive). Authority figures will search for players who escape their line of sight; the trouble meter enters a cool-down mode and eventually recedes when the player has evaded the authority figures. When not performing missions, players have the ability to attend classes; truanting a required class is a rule violation. Each class grants the player with a special ability upon passing; for example, English allows players to apologize to authority figures after violating rules, and Chemistry grants players with the ability to create firecrackers, Stink Bombs, and Itching Powder. Players are also able to initiate romantic relationships with non-player characters, acquiring the ability to give them gifts and kiss them, kissing also replenishes health. Synopsis Setting Bully takes place at Bullworth Academy, a private boarding school in the New England region of the United States. After being expelled from seven previous schools, the game's protagonist, 15-year old James "Jimmy" Hopkins, is sent there for a year while his mother and her new husband go on honeymoon. Surrounding the Academy is the town of Bullworth, which appears to exist in the same fictional universe as the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series. Plot After getting dropped off at Bullworth by his parents, Jimmy (Gerry Rosenthal) meets with the school's principal, Dr. Crabblesnitch, who urges him to "keep his nose clean". He is soon befriended by senior Gary Smith (Peter Vack) and freshman Peter "Pete/Petey" Kowalski (Matt Bush). Assuming the role of mentor, Gary introduces Jimmy to Bullworth's various "cliques": the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, and Jocks. At first, the two boys work together to try and assert their dominance over the cliques. However, Gary, who appears to suffer from a god complex, eventually betrays Jimmy by pitting him against Russell Northrop (Cody Melton), the leader of the Bullies, in an underground cage fight. Jimmy beats Russell and forces him to stop picking on his fellow students, to which the latter agrees. With this, Jimmy befriends Russell and has himself earned a great deal of popularity. Eager to expand his control, Jimmy turns his attention to the Preppies, the clique that consists of rich students. Just as he begins to win them over, Gary tricks them into turning against him. In response, Jimmy signs up for a boxing tournament hosted by the Preppies' leader, Derby Harrington (John Lavelle). Though he wins, the Preppies refuse to accept defeat and gang up on him, resulting in a massive fight that ends with Jimmy declaring himself the new leader. With the Preppies subdued, Jimmy then sets out to conquer their rivals, the Greasers. Johnny Vincent (Rocco Rosanio), their leader, asks Jimmy to help him expose an affair between his girlfriend Lola Lombardi (Phoebe Strole), and Gord Vendome (Andrew Gehling), a member of the Preppies. The Preppies, angered by Jimmy's betrayal, abandon him, but he gradually wins back their trust. Gary manages to convince Johnny that Jimmy wants Lola, so he sets an ambush for him in a scrapyard. With Petey's help, Johnny is defeated and the Greasers recognize Jimmy as their superior. Determined to bring peace to Bullworth, Jimmy moves to take over the Jocks, who are considered to be the most powerful of the cliques. To beat them, Jimmy works to gain the trust of the Nerds and their leader, student president Earnest Jones (Jesse Tendler). After beating Earnest, Jimmy befriends him and enlists his help in ruining the Jocks' reputation. The Nerds reveal a plan to sabotage the Jocks' big home game and Jimmy does all of the hard work, embarrassing not just the Jocks, but also the cheerleaders and the school mascot. Humiliated, the Jocks and their leader, Ted Thompson (Alex Cendese), challenge Jimmy to a fight in the school's football field, which they subsequently lose. With the cliques united under Jimmy's rule, peace is restored to Bullworth and Jimmy, who now basks in his newfound glory, is well respected by everyone. Secretly, Gary convinces the cliques to pressure Jimmy to vandalize Bullworth's town hall, an event caught on camera by the local press. Shortly afterwards, Gary orchestrates a series of dangerous and destructive pranks throughout the school and blames them on Jimmy's lack of leadership. These events ruin Jimmy's reputation in the eyes of the cliques, and he gradually loses their respect. The final straw comes when Gary falsely informs Crabblesnitch of Jimmy's alleged crimes, triggering immediate expulsion from Bullworth. Jimmy accepts defeat, but Petey urges him to find the true culprits behind the pranks. This leads him to the "Townies", a group of former Bullworth students who have turned to Gary for revenge against the school. One of them, Zoe Taylor (Molly Fox), agrees to help him find their leader, Edgar Munsen (Jan Milewicz). With Russell distracting the police and Zoe keeping the other Townies occupied, Jimmy sneaks into their hideout and confronts Edgar. After beating him, he explains Gary's deception. Zoe then arrives with news that Gary and his followers have taken Crabblesnitch hostage, sparking a full-blown war between the cliques. The Townies and Russell then help Jimmy neutralize the clique leaders, giving him an opening to enter the main building and chase Gary to the roof. Gary taunts Jimmy, claiming that he will win no matter what. Jimmy tackles him over the side and the two end up falling through the roof of Crabblesnitch's office. Once freed, he has Gary expelled and then fires Burton, a gym teacher who got Zoe expelled after she accused him of sexually harassing her. He allows Jimmy and Zoe to return to Bullworth, and takes Petey on as his personal pupil. As his friends and allies cheer on, Jimmy shares a kiss with Zoe. Development Bully possibly started development around 2002 by Rockstar Vancouver when they were known as Barking Dog Studios. When they were purchased by Rockstar Games, development stepped up further. Many very low quality beta models of characters can be found within the game files from a very early version of the game. Rockstar announced Bully on March 19, 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation Portable with an original expected release date of October 2004. When developing the characters, the team aimed at recreating the state of being a teenager, and making it enjoyable. Parallels were made between Jimmy and Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield. "Bully" influences came from Hollywood movies and novels like J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" — a coming-of-age book that has been one of the most banned since it was first published more than 50 years ago. Jimmy and Holden share a background of a difficult homelife and being thrown out of multiple private schools. The PlayStation Portable Version was cancelled for unknown reasons. Controversy Bully was finally released on June 7, 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. Bully's title and gameplay features inspired controversy among parents and educators who noted the adult content in previous Rockstar games, including the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee minigame controversy. Groups such as Bullying Online and Peaceaholics criticized the game for glorifying or trivializing school bullying, although they raised their objections before the game was released to the public. The player may also choose to kiss select girls and a boy in the game, which the ESRB was aware of when rating the product. Classification boards generally restricted Bully to a teenage audience: the ESRB classified the game with a T for Teen rating, the British Board of Film Classification gave it a 15 rating, the Australian Classification Board rated it M, and the New Zealand OFLC restricted it to persons 13 years of age and over. In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time. Critical Repsonse Bully has received generally positive reviews from critics. The game received ratings of 8.9/10 from IGN, 9.0/10 from Games Radar, a perfect 10/10 from 1UP.com, 8.7/10 from GameSpot, 5/5 from JIVE Magazine, 8.75/10 from VGRC.net, a 5/5 from X-Play, and made the Top 10 Games of '06 in PlayStation Magazine. Canis Canem Edit also got 9/10 from OPS2 Magazine. Critics generally praised the game's storyline, while they complained about particular stealth missions, as well as the camera. Critics also noted that the game is substantially easier than veterans of the Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar's flagship titles) would expect. Awards Won GameSpot's award for Best Original Music. Finalist for GameSpot's Game of the Year 2005 Gaming Target - 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2005 selection Became number #43 in the top 100 games of all time in IGN. #4 on Best PS2 Games of 2005. #5 on Best Xbox Games of 2005. #6 on Best GameCube Games of 2005. Scholarship Edition On 19 July 2007, Rockstar announced that a remaster would be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows subtitled Scholarship Edition. Rockstar New England, then called Mad Doc Software, led development with the Xbox 360. Scholarship Edition was released on March 4, 2008. The game features exclusive content which is unavailable in the original version, including new missions, characters, school classes, and unlockable items and clothing. Some small script changes have been made, and the highly compressed voice files of the original have been replaced with higher-quality versions. Sequel In November 2009, The Gaming Liberty interviewed musician Shawn Lee, who scored Bully, and was asked if he was scoring any more games in the near future; he responded, "Yes. It looks like I will be doing the soundtrack for Bully 2 in the not so distant future". While not yet confirmed, there have been many hints made by Rockstar Games that a sequel would be released. Dan Houser said in 2012 that after Max Payne 3, Bully 2 was a possibility. In July 2013, Rockstar Games filed trademark renewals for the franchise sparking more rumors of the development to the game. Gallery Category:2005 Video Games Category:Video Games By Rockstar Games Category:Action Adventure Games Category:Beat 'em ups Category:Video Games By Rockstar Vancouver Category:Open World Video Games Category:Controversial Video Games Category:PlayStation 2 Video Games Category:Xbox Video Games Category:Nintendo GameCube Video Games Category:PlayStation 3 Video Games Category:Xbox 360 Video Games Category:Windows Video Games Category:Cancelled PlayStation Portable Games